1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an open-top vehicle body, and, more particularly, to an open-top vehicle body equipped with a foldable windbreak apparatus placed behind a passenger seat for preventing a strong wind from blowing into a passenger compartment even while the vehicle is traveling at a high speed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Open-top or so called cabriolet type vehicles are typically provided with a foldable hood structure which can be folded and unfolded between an unfolded position in which the foldable hood covers the top of the vehicle and a folded position in which the foldable hood is concealed in a rear section of the vehicle to open the top of the vehicle. In the unfolded position, the foldable hood at its front end is secured to the front edge portion of a front windshield. While the vehicle is running at a high speed with the foldable hood remaining folded, a violent wind directly toward the compartment is blocked by the front windshield. However, the height of the windshield is restricted for the vehicle in order to reduce the resistance of the air during running and to provide a good external appearance, so that there is a problem that an air flow deflected upward back by and passing over the windshield partly turns into a downward and turbulent flow around the rear body section and is directed forward toward the passenger compartment from the rear body section.
In order to eliminate this problem, it has been proposed, for instance, to install what is called a windbreak aero-board apparatus or wind shield apparatus behind the passenger seats in the vehicle which transversely extends with its top edge leveled with a side belt line. The wind shield member of the windbreak aero-board apparatus is made of a rigid panel member so as to prevent a swirling wind flowing from the back of the passenger compartment. The wind shield member is retractably mounted on a vehicle floor panel by a support device so as to swing forward down from an upright position to a retracted position. In the upright position, the wind shield member projects upward beyond the side belt lines to block the wind blast into the passenger compartment. In the retracted position, the wind shield member is placed below the side belt line to allow the wind blast to flow forward into the passenger compartment.
One of this type of wind shield members placed behind the passenger seats so as to be pivotally swung between the upright position and the retracted position is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 4-5372.
In the prior art wind shield structure such as described in the above mentioned publication, the vehicle floor panel includes a front floor panel, a wall panel and a rear panel. The wall panel extends upward from a rear end of the front panel and the rear panel extends rearward from an upper end of the wall panel. The supporting device supports an upper end of the wind shield member so that it is positioned along the wall panel when the wind shield member is in the retracted position. However, in the prior art structure, it is complicated to swing the wind shield member from the retracted position to the upright position and vice versa. A certain height is necessary for the wind shield member so that the shield member effectively prevents the swirling wind blast. Therefore, the seats located in front of the wind shield member have to be slid forward to the position in which the swing of the wind shield member is not disturbed before reaching the retracted position or to the upright position.
In order to evade the complexity, the wind shield member can be designed so as to swing rearward from the upright position and positioned along the rear panel when it is in the retracted position. In this structure, the wind shield member is interfere with the roof structure which is folded on the rear panel. When the vehicle is provided with a foldable roof structure with a rear glass built therein, the rear glass might be damaged.